text:
{{search.results.count}} results {{searchFilter()}} {{searchQuery()}}
{{search.results.count}} results {{searchFilter()}} {{searchQuery()}}
Enter a search term such as "mobile analytics" or browse our content using the filters above.
That's not only a poor Scrabble score but we also couldn't find any results matching
Check your spelling or try broadening your search.
This service is currently undergoing maintenance.
Please try again later.
Over the last couple of years, Big Data has been unavoidable. It's not just big, it's massive. If you throw a stone down the streets of London or New York, you've got as much a chance of hitting a big data guru as you do a social media guru.
Undoubtedly, there is great power in data, but is Big Data all it's cracked up to be?
50% of my brain thinks Big Data is great, and 50% of me thinks it's a neologism. I've found it difficult to reconcile all of the varying information out there about it.
So join me for the first part of a two-part series looking at Big Data. In part one, I'll look at Three reasons why Big Data is a big load of baloney. And next week in part two, I'll look at Three reasons why Big Data is awesome.
1. Big trends are trendy
My pet rock still hasn't moved, and my Tickle-Me-Elmo still won't shut up. And also, Big Data is big, at least according to Google Trends:
Some other terms once synonymous with the inter-web were pretty trendy too. Remember this one?
The adoption curve of the term "web 2.0" looks quite similar to where we are now with Big Data. And yet, if you still use the term "web 2.0" in your job, then you probably think the Fresh Prince still lives in West Philadelphia. (He doesn't.)
The thing about Big Data is that it really isn't anything new. Cluster analyses, propensity modelling, neural networks and the like have been in use in the marketing sphere for quite some time.
The phrase used a few years ago for this sort of stuff was 'business intelligence'
But now, we don't care about business intelligence anymore. Who needs intelligence? It's over-rated. Like Goethe said, "All intelligent thoughts have already been thought".
And yet, Big Data is everywhere. Why shouldn't it be? It's BIG. However, you ask 10 people what Big Data means, you'll get 10 answers, none of which make much sense.
Maybe it's because of this:
We've all seen Moneyball and read Nate Silver's blog. There are people out there who are better at statistics than you. And this is scary.
So what's the solution? Throw a bunch of money at Big Data, whatever it is, and sleep soundly knowing that you've gainfully employed a math graduate.
And therefore, Big Data is a big load of baloney.
2. Missing one V
Gartner defines Big Data as requiring Three V's: Volume, Velocity, and Variety. So let's look at this a bit deeper.
Volume of data: for sure, there's loads of data out there. Huge amounts. Check.
Velocity of data: yep, data is moved around in large quantities faster than ever before. Check.
Variety of data: in most digital marketing ecosystems, there are the following types of data (yes, I know there are more, but for the sake of argument bear with me):
- Site stats.
- Email engagement stats.
- Mobile/SMS stats.
- Past purchases.
- Demographics, preferences etc.
And within each of these, the options are finite. For example, in email, most people measure (at the very least) opens, clicks and conversions. That's three types of data.
And for all of the other areas above it's the same. For the sake of argument, let's say that we've got 30 types of data in total.
This is the thing. 30 types of structured data. Processing this data doesn't require a super-computer, it simply requires robust statistical methodology.
So, if you're a digital marketer, what you actually have is 'a few sets of structured, small data', not 'Big Data'.
And therefore, Big Data is a big load of baloney.
3. You can perfectly predict the past
With the beginning of the National Hockey League's 2013-14 season fast approaching, I've been spending a lot of time lately trying to determine the best bets to place on the eventual winner.
And of course, it seems Big Data is the best route to my next million dollars. (Btw if anyone is interested in joining my hockey pool then drop me a line - go-live is 1st October!)
I downloaded as many team statistics as I could from last season and embedded them into a spreadsheet. It included rudimentary statistics such as Goals For and Goals Against, right through to Winning % when trailing after two periods, CORSI 5v5, and defensive zone exit rate.
Then I ran a multiple regression and removed non-causal variables. I perfected the model such that the formula spat out expected point totals that were on average within 0.5 points of the actual result.
When I plugged in the raw data from the previous season, the outputted expected results weren't even close to the actual results.
This is a perfect case of what is called 'over-fitting'.
When you have a lot of data, the urge is to use all of it and create an uber-complex, bullet-proof formula. Take all of your data points and find the trendline that touches everything. But there's an inherent problem with this – all you've done is create a formula to perfectly predict the past.
The risks that come with an over-fitted model are twofold:
- You are assuming that the future will be the same as the past.
- Adding or removing variables becomes extremely difficult and risky.
So despite there being lots of data out there, the dominant strategy is to focus on the causal variables. In the hockey allegory above, while I won't reveal my secrets, two of the stronger predictors of eventual success are goal differential and shot differential.
Not rocket science, I know – if you take more shots than your opponents you'll generally score more goals than your opponents. However, I did learn to remove strictly correlative variables (such as Faceoff Win %, PDO and punches thrown).
Instead of focusing on Big Data and its gillions of variables, I'm instead focusing on a small amount of variables that actually matter.
Within your organisation, what are your causal variables? By looking at all the Big Data available to you, you run the risk of the truly valuable signals being obfuscated by irrelevant correlates.
And therefore, Big Data is a big load of baloney.
I do too. Well, 50% of me does. Feel free to elaborate on your point of view in the comments section below.
And, join me in about a week's time back here on Econsultancy's blog for my follow up post, "Three reasons why Big Data is awesome".
Comments (39)
Big data is just data! We haven't all become number-illiterate overnight. It is beyond me why everyone is suddenly freaking out about 'big data' as if it's some huge issue. We've always managed in the past - everyone just needs to chill out and get on with it!
Great article! Because it is so on target! It appears we have run out of "buzzwords" so we have recycle things that have already been out there so it sounds "new"...let's face it "big data" is like "content marketing"...it has always been around and most everyone has been apart of it in one form or another.
I think Big data is just another channel to gain amazing insights about your business. You cannot mainstream it.
BIG DATA is data and like all data its baloney.
However, analysing reams of data and cutting the fluff either mathematically or statistically helps you get to the core. This process converts data to knowledge. Leave it at that, then you are obviously over analysing the past with almost zero guarantee of a different output in the future.
It's when focused quantitative input or knowledge is overlapped with qualitative value - this baloney data becomes INSIGHT
I am sure you next post will deal with this in some form or the other.
Obviously I am a big fan of BIG DATA or business Intelligence....
Totally agree with the author. Big Data has fast become a cliche. I have attended several conferences titled 'Big Data that' and 'Big Data this'. However what I found was that they were still talking about web analytics, business intelligence, data analysis, etc. They just replaced the word 'data' with 'big data'.
I know you are only at half time on this Parry but a slightly different perspective ...
"Big Data" has become such a big a discussion point because it is so much more than what we see in ecommerce and digital marketing. Predictive analytics in crime prevention, healthcare, education, transport and all aspects of public life is having a massive influence at policy level leading to a significant impact on people's day-to-day lives. There is so much more yet to come.
IMHO Big Data is just a term for a digital trend that seeks to explain and contextualise the continual and exponential growth in data from multiple different sources and types.
I've read a number of articles that almost implies that you have to start by auditing and integrating systems and analysing the outputs that then may determine some useful insights.
But businesses should start with the "Question(s)" they are trying to get answers to first and with a clear understanding in the value that answer will bring the business and its customers. This will then help to tightly define your businesses "Big Data" strategy and tactical plans moving forward.
Hi all - cheers for all the comments! Clearly a topic that generates some strong opinions.
@Rajesh - you've got it in one. Stay tuned for part 2!
@Edward Chung - quite like your tautological perspective, where "big data" is actually "data." Nice!
@Klynn - couldn't agree more. Trying to find hidden trends in great masses of data is the proverbial needle in a haystack. The questions for which we seek answers are the key. Sort of like the Socratic method, except way less philosophical and way more capitalist :)
I was pulling for you, but in the end I can't agree. Big Data is a big deal no matter what you call it. The reason it is different is that you can carve as many pieces of small data out of what is out there to do just about any kind of analysis. You are limited by your own creativity and the rules of math. The reason Big Data is a HUGE deal is because it is sooo mobile. Remember when it took an hour to download IE 4 over your dial-up?... same file might take a minute nowadays. Further, that speed is also used in the archiving process sooo.. AGAIN... we accumulate more data every day than ever before. soo... I say let's keep the baloney on our sandwiches and keep analyzing Big Data no matter what the buzz-word users call it.
Missing one V?...Not everyone is!
You've missed some very crucial data types out of the equation! What about unstructured data from social feeds subjected to sentiment analysis?...What about mass competitor pricing / promotion information harvested from the web and then factored into pricing, promotion and keyword bids!! All of these are possible with the right tools and combined with the data types listed would likely give rise to many more interesting correlations and hence much more actionable insight!!!
@Mike cheers for the feedback and I understand your points. I'm guessing based upon your job title/company you've got a specific use case in mind, which I'm sure is quite an interesting one.
But I'm not convinced that "interesting correlations" are what astute statisticians will concern themselves with, regardless of their allegiance to Big Data.
I don't have a example within the context of my own current job, but I am aware a small company in Cardiff (called Eysys) who claim to be doing exactly what I highlight in terms of incorporating social feeds and real-time competitor analysis into the big-data mix with some claimed very interesting results!
I do take your point about "interesting correlations" but sometimes when we discover new approaches we fall into the trap of trying to apply them in an old way! Where Big Data comes into it's own is in answering questions and testing hypotheses perhaps nobody thought to ask before!...Some of these will probably be things that nobody cares about, but there are many documented cases from predicting shopping patterns to flu outbreaks where very meaningful and valuable (as in £) insights have been gleaned!
Great post Parry. I'm looking forward to part II. Like you I'm somewhat conflicted on the topic. I'm a great believer in data in the value of data-driven decision making but I don't find 'big data' a helpful phrase at all. I expect it to go the way of 'web 2.0'.
This has to be one of the more entertaining articles I've read this morning. Especially Parry's followup comment:
@Klynn - couldn't agree more. Trying to find hidden trends in great masses of data is the proverbial needle in a haystack. The questions for which we seek answers are the key. Sort of like the Socratic method, except way less philosophical and way more capitalist :)
Ignorance truly is bliss. Bravo!
I'm in the same boat as you Perry - one foot in and one foot out of the trend. I look forward to reading part 2 to determine which side of the fence I feel most comfortable at this point.
Any article that uses hockey to illustrate statistical analytics is alright by me.
For your upcoming article "3 ways Big Data is awesome" you can reference a specific article I wrote for e-tailers.
@Mike sounds like you've got a pretty interesting use case there. I'll check that company out, cheers for the heads up.
@Ashley cheers for the shout-out. And kudos to the Econsultancy team for not producing a "How marketers should use big data" report, even though you'd have made a quick buck :)
@Scott yep, there's been quite a bit of "moneypuck" in the last few years. My next article will look at a specific use case from the NHL as well... stay tuned!
@Jacob nice one - will give it a good read when I have a sec.
'Big data' has only ever been an unhelpful buzzword anyway. An obsession of CTOs and CIOs who just use statistics of justify their existence.
Big data is just data.
The only thing that's arguably changed is database and data collection technologies have made it affordable for companies to amass far more data that they know how to handle. And more than is useful for them.
What should be the centre of focus is tools and mechanisms for finding the insight in data - visualization, mining, analytics tools and technologies.
Data sets have invariably got larger but for me, the main reason that senior bods in companies are now so obsessed with 'Big Data' is because they are so aware of how poorly they are managing any of their data currently.
Ask any company whether they really understand how their customers engage with their website, what they are looking for and whether they find it / purchase it and you'd get a lot of nervous faces as the response that comes back is a very unconvincing 'obviously...'. The same is true of marketing activity, historical customer data or any form of interactions that users may have with a brands web / mobile presence, social media or indeed real life (be it store or call centre focused) existence.
As a result, when they are told that they need to take all of these data source, combined them together and find an answer to the meaning of the world and everything in it they panic and many look to pay some ridiculously overpaid statistical consultants to give them the answer.
The problem is unless you know what questions you want to ask, all the data in the world is useless to you and all you will end up with, in the words of Benjamin Disraeli from way back in the 19th century (popularised by Mark Twain) is lies, damned lies, and statistics...
When techies say Big Data they usually mean 1TB+ of unstructured "data lake". Hadoop lets you filter and structure that great mass into under a terrabyte of data which can then be loaded into your data warehouse... you might filter it some more and do final analysis in Excel or SAS.
If you can load it straight into a business intelligence data warehouse or even Excel(!) it's not "big data"! It's just data - structured and relatively small. "Big data" is Google streaming eveything you ever do on your Android phone into its data lake so that sometime in the future the data can be analyzed and used for marketing. It's a fundamentally different approach from business intelligence or basic data analysis.
Of course, the buzzword gets applied to existing data analysis because it's trendy.
@Andrew yes, it is indeed the case that the 'barrier/cost to entry' for doing more sophisticated analysis on larger data sets has come right down. But it relates to the next point
@Matt entirely agree. The technology isn't really the problem, or the size of the data. It's knowing what you want and why in the first place that's much harder. Knowing the right questions to ask. Having the resources to actually do anything about it IF you find anything useful. Lots of interesting stuff but not always actionable or useful.
@Anthony yes, there is a 'size' element to data's big-ness. But in my experience there are *very* few organisations who are anywhere close to having to worry about Google-scale data activities. To Matt's point there are plenty of other 'basic' things yet to address before we worry about this level of data?
Interestingly, even massive dot.coms have limited need for big data:
"Three production traces – from Facebook, Bing and Yahoo! – show a heavy-tailed distribution of [data processing] job sizes. Small interactive jobs dominate by count while large production jobs consume the most resources."
Source: http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~istoica/classes/cs294/11/papers/pacman-draft.pdf
So even the companies with the most digital data in the world appear to have limited need for Big Data processing - they need lots of processing power, but the biggest count is small jobs.
@Parry - I was heartened, when speaking to a recent ex-Amazon-ite, to hear, when I asked about their wondrous internal data/systems, that it was actually 'slow, manual, not connected...'. That made me feel better ;)
@Ashley - It's so true though. Having worked at and with a number of media agencies over the years who claimed to have invested in huge systems to allow them to provide complex attribution algorithms for their clients or provide 'accurate' predictions for their clients based on an array of external factors, as soon as you actually scratched below the surface you either found it was all hype or a group of very dedicated analysts working night and day to churn through everything.
The biggest problem with it all (which was actually raised at the Round Table Econsultancy hosted earlier in the year) is that the myths about Big Data are made even worse by mistruths that are spread about what 'the best in the business' are actually doing...
It's as if you are reading my mind. I am giving a webinar in less than 24 hours on this exact subject -
I make a very similar point in WIRED:
People who actually do this stuff on a day to day basis understand the difference between marketing hype and the reality of making a big impact.
What a great read. I can't wait to hear about the other 50%.
-- Neil Biehn
@Neil great read - thanks for the link. I signed up for the webinar but will likely have to watch it on catch-up (stupid day job)
You know, I wonder if there's a 6th V - Viagra - as it seems there's a "my data is THIS BIG" contest these days :)
People will do what they have always done. Big data is a fallacy. The job of marketers and other data miners is to determine what past behaviors accurately predict the future. The answer always lies in a few pieces of information, not thousands. Is this guy a good credit risk? Does he pay his bills on time? Simple as that.
Big Data sounds nice. It's great to through around in a meeting. It doesn't mean anything. What does? Relevant Data.
That's telling it the way it is. Thanks.
"Baloney": I'd say more than 50%.
Remember Lester Wunderman's classic remark: "Data is an expense. Knowledge is a bargain."
The key question is: How much does response have to increase to justify the cost of collecting and using the 'big data'?
Anyone wanting a simple Excel model to make this determination should e-mail me at email@example.com with the words 'Model Please' and I'll happily send one so you can figure it out for yourself.
Big Data is appropriate for business that are more or less static. Casinos are the perfect example of big data in play. Data or odds as the casino calls them are useful when trying to determine if you should be repeating behavior, but in of itself doesn't offer better approaches or ways to innovate or provide better customer experiences or any of the intangibles that most people associate with bettering a business.
But data does show where the most effective extractive efforts should be placed. It is no coincidence that in the past "data mining " was a term used so often. The mining of data is most profitable when an emphasis on one particular variable or another is more predictive than others, but that doesn't change it out of the category of looking at history.
What is critical after employing "big data " is how the info is implemented and whether or not the data is appropriately considered in the correct context. Its why data can tell us what the favorite flavor of ice cream in a particular locale is , but it can't tell what new flavor will be the rage next summer.
Generally data assessment is most useful where extraction and market share are the primary methods being improved and not organic growth. It is why people didn't want to manufacture tablets until Apple made them.
this question has been asked and answered.
Target wanted to change the buying habits of women. To do that they set up a Predictive Analytics project to find women who were in their second trimester. They started with their own baby registry and added data points.
NYT had an article on this about a year ago. Very successful.
Amazon uses the data they get from what you buy. Works.
Finally, I have studied the Predictive Persuasion methods used by the Obama campaign. Here again, this worked. They had to find people who could be persuaded to vote for the President in Battleground States. Worked out. They found the voters they needed and figured out how to persuade them. Complicated. Expensive. But, ultimately, successful.
Bottom line is that Predictive Analytics, like everything else:
It Depends...
Very insightful comments from various participants. When I started delving into this area, I could draw parallels to the Six-Sigma concept where a specific business problem gets translated into statistical problem, analyzed using appropriate and relevant statistical solution is contextualized and Improvements Implemented.
Also like any Phenomena, Big Data is not a Panacea for all problems in the business world, but it has potential to address 'noteworthy' use cases. The key thing for all is to find those use cases.
happy hunting.....
Like you, I am of two minds on the subject.
I think Big Data started out as a somehat meaningful concept in terms of data set size, but it was either originated or hijacked by vendors to (1) Sell products and services and (2) Put a fresh spin on old seminar topics. As a result, is has become a hackneyed buzzword that appears to be peaking.
However, we do have more data than ever, and one can glean insights from previously unavailable and unmanageable data sets (the Amazon and Obama campaign examples are good ones). Healthcare is also an area where Big Data is not only available but has great potential in drug research and epidemiology.
Finally, I do want to join your hockey pool even though it sounds like I will be shorthanded compared to your statistical power play.
When I read a certain Davenport article that defined the term big data, the 3 components he espoused were volume, velocity, and utilization by the business unit rather than the IT unit. It made sense. Later, as your graph 1 adoption curve grew, I joined the group that find the terminology to be hype.Big data as well as data scientist need to be put to rest. As many have said in their posts, data is data, and knowledge workers know to make it sing. There simply needs to be sensible use of data to bring value to a business. I agree that it's discovery of the variables that matter and effective business execution based on that knowledge that makes it an exciting field to be in. I want to join your hockey pool too. Looking forward to the next post.
I think the comparison with "Web 2.0" is interesting. As you say, no-one says "Web 2.0", do they, yet.....we're all living the Web 2.0 dream - Twitter, Facebook, commenting on eConsultancy blog posts and so on. Seems to me that the idea of Web 2.0 has been massively influential, even though the term is completely out of date now.
My guess is that Big Data will go the same way and the rise of the influence of data within the decision making process will continue at pace. But in 12, 24 months time, none of us will say "Big Data".
What's undeniable, IMHO, is that Big Data has 1) brought us software, platforms and techniques that make the processing of data much more efficient and far cheaper than before and 2) raised the profile of data, rendering guesses, opinions and hunches insufficient for quality decision making. As the wise man (W Edwards Deming) said, "In God we trust - all others bring data".
And here's the follow up post if this horse isn't dead yet!
Big data is just that big data. It just needs a better framework and toolset to manage it and the consumer doesn't really know it is "big data". We developed a big data application for tours with 197 million tours currently. It just looks like any other site, except it's in russian and uses big data technologies . If you're interested it can be seen under the SPO project at www.cubexsoftware.com/projects
For sure, "Big Data" is baloney, but big data, and the effective analysis of big data, makes perfect commercial sense. The key, therefore is to focus on understanding the meaning behind the masses of information businesses hold to unlock its potential, rather than competing with other organisations in data collection, which is often the mis-guided primary focus. In fact, medium-sized businesses should not be seduced by the technology industry's hyperbole for 'big data'. Instead, you should focus on using the data that is sitting in the palm of your hand more thoroughly, imaginatively and effectively.
All data worth keeping should be treated as a business asset; protected, nurtured and curated such that it is available in a timely, reliable and consistent manner. Adhering to this, business reporting should be focused on addressing genuinely *key* performance indicators, addressing Donald Rumsfeld's 'known knowns':
"There are known knowns; there are things we know that we know, there are known unknowns; that is to say there are things that, we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don't know."
Effective reporting highlights important metrics, and puts them in the context of what the organisation knows, understands or expects: previous performance, forecasts, budgets and plans. This allows directors and employees to contrast actual business performance with what is expected. Business reporting, however, does not address effectively the challenges of the 'known unknowns' or the 'unknown unknowns'; to do so requires the effective application of data analytics.
Businesses must therefore apply analytics to their data – of any scale – in order to explore, discover and understand their 'known unknowns'; those business questions that are well formulated, but whose answers are unclear.
Visual analytics is the swiftest and most accessible route into data which utilises our visual perception system and its innate pattern discovery; no-one needs a degree in statistics or mathematics to be an effective visual analyst. The best of the current breed of visual analytics software encourages exploration of data, of all forms and sizes, and enables simple, effective communication of insights discovered to non-technical audiences.
So is Big Data all baloney? For businesses who currently do not treat the small data they have as a valuable asset – absolutely. But does the right approach to data – big and small – contain huge opportunities for insight, innovation and transformation? Without a doubt.
Guy Cuthbert
Managing Director
Atheon Analytics
My personal definition of Big Data is external and unstructured.
Good examples from the transportation industry are weather and traffic information, public holidays, major events - which may all - and in combination - impact the performance of your assets.
"stupid is what stupid does" - well, the biggest crime would be to do nothing: you don't know what you don't know - so the more visibility, the better informed decisions you can make - even if a conclusion is that certain data has no impact.
Most companies I've worked with, however, have too little structure on their internal data - hence going for Big Data is at best premature, at worst distorting.


text:
"A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart" by Dr. King discusses the importance of creating a synthesis of opposites and characteristics of one engaged in shrewd thinking with a loving spirit.
Digital Archive brought to you
by JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Enjoying the Digital Archives? Help us maintain and expand the collection. Donate to The King Center

subset: commoncrawl


text:
General Practice, Solo & Small Firm Division
American Bar Association
General Practice, Solo, and Small Firm Division The Compleat Lawyer
Fall 1997 copyright American Bar Association. All rights reserved.
Immigration Law
Jay G. Foonberg is a lawyer in Beverly Hills, California. He is the author of How to Start and Build a Law Practice, 3rd edition (ABA Law Practice Management Section 1994)) as well as The ABA Guide to Lawyer Trust Accounts and How to Get and Keep Good Clients. To order these books, call 800/285-2221.
There are two types of lawyers who start a law firm: Those who want to and those who have to. There was a time when deciding whether or not to start a firm was primarily a problem for new and young lawyers. Much of my mail today is also from Involuntary Entrepreneurs lawyers who are considering starting a firm because the firms they had been working for have downsized or merged, and they are having a difficult time finding a job.
Starting a law firm is not for everyone. However, by taking a serious look in a mirror and being honest with yourself while assessing and addressing your strengths and weaknesses, you can maximize your chances of making it. Ask yourself some questions before making a decision.
Do you require socio-economic status? If so, being a self-employed person with your name as part of the firm name may be just the thing for you. Law Offices of Mary Smith looks good on your card and sounds great when the telephones are answered. Clients and potential clients will know that you make the big decisions. They know that the number one person in the firm will be speaking for them. They like it. You will receive much more respect and status than if you go to work for another firm, where it will take three years for your name to appear on stationery or two years before you can sign and send a letter without someone else first reviewing it. Working for some other firm or lawyer may not garner any more respect than working for the post office or the gas company. It may be true that you will be captain of a motor boat instead of fourth mate on a destroyer, but to clients and potential clients, you will be the captain to whom all respect is due.
Do you have high moral values? For some reason, lawyers who take the high road end up happier and wealthier than lawyers who think the road to success is via the low road. The strength to succeed in the practice of law is similar to what it takes to complete a marathon. The strength comes from within. There will be times when you will be tempted to go for the easy buck or to bend the rules for the client in order to get a case or get a fee.
Once a lawyer starts taking the easy way out, it s hard to reverse; the slide downward usually ends in disaster. There s no point in doing something and then living in fear of discovery or blackmail by a client. You have to be able to forsake winning an occasional game by breaking the rules if you want to win the championship. You and your family will often have to do without things that others on a job enjoy.
Should You Fly Solo or with Others?
Are you a loner who truly does not like to depend on, or work with, others? If so, a firm or practice with others won't be a happy experience for anyone regardless of how much money you earn. Not all people can or should work with others. Many of the most important discoveries of science and much of the most important literature of civilization can be attributed to individuals working alone without committees or the approval of others. Some people enjoy being part of the support group for a star. Some people hate it. You might be absolutely brilliant, but nonetheless hated for your impatience or lack of courtesy toward others.
Relationships with partners. If you are going to practice with other lawyers, have you reached an agreement about who will do what kind of work, who is responsible for the marketing, and who will administratively run the store ?
The purpose of practicing with other lawyers should be to compliment rather than duplicate each other. When everyone does everything, the result is chaos as well as wasted energy and money. You can rotate and exchange responsibilities until you learn who is best at doing different tasks. You may learn that none of you can effectively do what has to be done, and it may be necessary to bring in another person to maintain a successful law practice.
Plan Ahead
A business plan. Are you willing to prepare a written business plan? A written business plan is essential. The business plan forces you to think about and to make hard decisions. Your plan will be your roadmap to success. You may have to detour around unexpected obstacles, but you will know where you want to go. The plan is something you can look at periodically to determine if you are on course. The plan can be prepared with the help of your CPA and another more experienced lawyer who has been where you want to go. The plan will help you chart out where you want to go and how to get there. Just having a plan will be important if you want to borrow money or get credit from a bank. You can always make up a new plan or revise your existing plan if you are not happy with where you seem to be headed. Without a plan, you will flounder and expend energy needlessly.
The mission statement. Can you prepare a mission statement setting forth exactly what you want to do with your life and your career? A mission statement succinctly states in less than 50 words what you really want out of your practice, and where you really want to go. The business plan gets you there. Problem-solving skills. Can you face problems? If it s cold outside and you close the windows, it will still be cold outside. If you can t face problems, don t even think of starting a law practice. Problems are opportunities to correct your course before there is a shipwreck. Running away from or ignoring problems is a one-way ticket to eventual professional and financial disaster.
Budgeting. Can you prepare and stick to a budget? A budget, like a business plan, is a roadmap to where you want to go, with the budget being your speedometer and your odometer. A good CPA is invaluable in preparing a budget and measuring your progress.
Client base. Where will the first clients come from? (Friends, family, former firm, other lawyers, existing clients who will follow you, other forms of proactive marketing?) Without clients, there is no income and no practice. Don t depend on people discovering you. You need a marketing plan in addition to, or as part of, your business plan.
Getting and keeping paying clients is not that difficult if you work at it. My book, How to Get and Keep Good Clients, will show you more than 100 ways to get and keep clients. You have to pick the ones you like and then work at it. Practice development (marketing) is an integral part of making it as a lawyer. Lawyers with clients can hire other lawyers. Lawyers without clients can only work for other lawyers.
Cash reserves. Do you have cash reserves or income to get through the first year when your practice might not be able to produce cash? The first year of a practice is especially difficult because there is no backlog of old cases being liquidated and turned into cash. Whatever cash you do get, you will need for the office and client matters. Foonberg's Rule of Cash Up Front becomes a matter of survival as well as a matter of convenience. It does you no good if all your eggs hatch the day after bankruptcy. The first year is critical.
Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks
Are you willing to learn new practice areas if there is no real market for what you do best? The practice of law changes rapidly. Areas of law become obsolete or difficult to enter as large firms and commercial organizations spend millions of dollars to get business and keep others out of competition. Demand for various types of lawyers changes rapidly as the local economy changes.
Nonlawyers are practicing law with impunity in many areas of law. The public is often willing to accept cheap rather than excellent. Many groups provide low-cost and no-cost legal services, often using nonlawyers. Do not be discouraged. Existing and new areas of law are coming into being and growing as fast as old areas become obsolete. Lawyers will increasingly be asked to meet the needs of an aging population; to deal with expanding international trade and immigration; and to develop expertise in the areas of high technology, environmental law, and communications law, among others.
Family Matters
Finances. Can you and your spouse manage to save money when times are good for the slow times that will definitely come? Alternatively, do you spend everything hoping tomorrow will somehow work out (a good way to get into financial trouble)?
A law practice has ups and downs. You may work on a case for years with no cash income and then receive a huge cash fee. It s easy to spend first and save what s left. The road to true financial success and independence is based on saving first and then spending what is left. (I learned this from my little old grandmother, who always had money saved from her regular job as an Avon lady; all the big shots in the family went to her to borrow.) Saving should be as high a priority as rent or car payments.
Responsibilities. If you or your spouse have children or parents who require attention, have you agreed on who is going to do what when there are conflicts of available time? Many marriages end in disaster because each spouse feels they are carrying an unfair share of family responsibilities. This is especially true when both spouses have aggressive career plans. Cases have been lost because a spouse missed a court appearance due to a child-care problem.
It s difficult to give a client your full attention when you are thinking about who is going to meet with the child s teachers or that you might miss the child s tee ball game or school recital. If you can t agree on who is going to do what, hire a third person to take care of your children or parents. In some solo offices, all the staff is hired knowing that child care of the lawyer s children or of other children or parents may be part of their duties.
Wise Pro Bono
Do you have the courage to say no to someone who desperately needs your brilliance, but has no ability to pay? If you cannot limit your pro bono work, you may become pro bono and not be able to help anyone.
If you truly are a caring lawyer (a critical trait in achieving success), it s hard to say no to someone who desperately needs you. You must remember that you have a higher responsibility to be sure your employees are paid and that your family is adequately taken care of. Give 5 percent of your time to pro bono; then, Just say no. It's hard, but in reality you have no choice.
But maybe you really like helping the poor and downtrodden who can't afford to pay. Being a solo allows you to pick and choose the cases and clients you like without criticism from others in the firm. Even though you are cautioned against devoting more than 5 percent of your time to pro bono, you will sooner or later violate that rule because you feel you are uniquely able to help someone who really needs you or because you are fascinated by the legal challenges involved. Being a solo allows you to take on one of these cases from time to time without fearing criticism by others in the firm. (Your family may give you a hard time, though.)
Delegate office management. Are you willing to allow someone else to worry about office management so that you can work on getting and keeping clients and practicing law? A good office manager can be hired for a fraction of what you can bill and earn as a lawyer practicing law. It is totally false economy to wash your own windows, or to shop for hours for office supplies to save $10. Your office manager may not be as brilliant as you, but with the increased income on your part, you can afford the salary and mistakes and have increased profits. Increasing income has five to ten times the value of decreasing expenses.
Trust another person to make decisions about critical office management needs including telephones, fax lines, computer lines, e-mail, answering machines, voice mail systems, desks, chairs, and reception furniture. You can spend an unlimited amount of time comparison shopping to save a few dollars. Let someone else spend their time doing the shopping.
Hiring staff. Are you willing to hire the best qualified person for staffing or do you prefer to hire people you like regardless of ability? Most lawyers look upon the hiring process with distaste. They think of interviewing and testing and reference checking as an interference with billable time. They don t like saying no to an applicant. The easy way out is to hire people you like or who are physically attractive, but this often results in the wrong person being hired for the job. A written job description coupled with discipline can result in the right person being hired.
Work and More Work
Are you willing and able to work long, hard hours? Self- employed lawyers frequently work 50 to 60 hours a week and even more when there is paying work to be done. You must make hay when the sun is shining. (Actually, Global Positioning Satellites, combined with computer controls of combines and tractors, now make it possible for unmanned equipment to harvest at night.) No one said it would be easy. It might be fun and rewarding, but it won t be easy. Most law is time sensitive. Contracts, wills, pleadings, conferences, and court appearances are all governed by due dates. The problem occurs when you have multiple matters, each requiring attention at the same time. On the one hand, you will have too much to do unless you work long hours or turn down work. On the other hand, you want to do the work when there is work to be done. You will not have other lawyers to whom you can pass off the work. Having a larger number of matters will often require long hours over long periods of time.
Help is Available
Check out How to Start and Build a Law Practice. The book asks about 65 questions that you should have on your mind; then answers those questions. After you develop your own practice and clientele, you can change the answers to fit you and your practice, but at least you won t be floundering.


text:
Body found in Greensboro lake, police say
Death of Dorien Daymon Jackson ruled homicide
Body found in Greensboro lake, police say
Death of Dorien Daymon Jackson ruled homicide
A High Point teen reported missing in January was found dead Sunday afternoon in Lake Townsend. His death has been ruled a homicide.
Dorien Daymon Jackson, 18, of Tangle Lane was found dead after officials went to the section of the lake off Plainfield Road in Greensboro. Three fishermen who were in the area reported the finding to authorities.
Jackson was reported missing by family members Jan. 13. He was last seen Jan. 10.
The medical examiner ruled Jackson's death a homicide, but police said they will not disclose the cause of death "in order to facilitate the ongoing investigation."
A crew of 15-20 officials searched for Jackson in City Lake Park in Jamestown in early February.
Stay with wxii12.com and WXII Mobile for updates.


text:
Books and Babies
Date:Tuesday, April 25, 2017, 10:00 AM—10:30 AM
Location:Decatur Library
Event Type:Storytimes
Age Group:Baby (0 to 12 months)
Nursery rhymes, songs, short books, and fingerplays that target the developmental needs of infants and crawlers. Siblings welcome. Please sign up at the Desk in the Children's Department on the morning of the program. In some cases, latecomers cannot be accommodated.
Groups of 5 or more, please call branch for appointment. Open to first 25 participants.


text:
- Getting Here
- Visitor Info
- Tickets & Tours
- Gainesville Location
- Things to Do
- Events
- Calendar
- Day Planner
- Gift Shop
- Dining
- After Your Visit
- Visitor Survey
- Explore
- Support
- Learn
Chihuly in the Garden
In 2004, Mary Pat Matheson, Garden President & CEO, secured the most prestigious exhibit in the Garden's history, Chihuly in the Garden. An exhibition of original glass sculptures by internationally renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly were on display at the Garden from May - October, with an extended run through December. The nine-month blockbuster exhibition, sponsored by Target Stores, brought the Garden to the forefront of cultural tourism in the Southeast.
The exhibition presented Chihuly's stunning glass sculptures within the Garden's lush botanical setting. Hailed as Atlanta's cultural event of the year, Chihuly in the Garden wove together art and nature. The majesty of Dale Chihuly's glass was showcased with the inspiring plant collections of the Garden.
"Chihuly in the Garden startled visitor expectations, stretched their imaginations and offered a new way of experiencing plants and art," Matheson said. As a result of the exhibition's success, Matheson hosted delegations from Kew Gardens in London, Detroit Botanical Garden, Denver Botanic Gardens and New York Botanical Garden, fielding their questions about staging Chihuly in those public gardens.
One of the sculptures, the Nepenthes Chandelier, remains a permanent legacy of the exhibition. Inspired by the Garden's tropical carnivorous pitcher plant collection, it was generously donated by David J. Tufts. Nepenthes hangs in the Hardin Visitor Center and is a memorial to David Tufts' partner, Jefferson I. Lewis, a Chihuly collector.
Matheson's farsighted vision of bringing the work of this internationally renowned glass sculptor to Atlanta paid off handsomely. Garden visitation in 2004 more than doubled to 425,000; Gift Shop sales were up 400 percent after selling 70 studio pieces, and membership was at an all-time high for the Atlanta Botanical Garden, with 19,000 member households. Chihuly Nights extended Garden hours every Tuesday evening, with dinner and wine available for purchase. A video documentary about Chihuly in the Garden was produced by WSB-TV and ran continuously in the Exhibit Hall, and audio tours were available for visitors.
The Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau has publicly recognized this achievement, and estimated the Chihuly in the Garden exhibition brought in $50-$60 million and approximately 1,000 hotel-nights to the City of Atlanta during its nine-month run. "This is a conservative estimate, based on the formula for computing economic impact that is endorsed by the Travel Industry Association of America," said ACVB representatives.


text:
11-1 Second Half Run Carries Baldwin-Wallace Over Pittsburgh-Greensburg, 52-44
March 6, 2009
Courtesy of Hope College/Tom Renner
HOLLAND, Mich. - Junior forward Ariel Brough scored six of her game-high 15 points during an 11-1 second half run, and Baldwin-Wallace (Ohio) College held on to defeat the University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg, 52-44, in a first-round game Friday at the NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament.
Trailing 31-29 midway through the second half, the Yellowjackets (22-7) limited the Bobcats (24-3) to a single free throw over a six-minute span, while Brough scored two baskets and added two free throws to stake Baldwin-Wallace to a 40-32 lead with 4:20 remaining.
B-W, which was runnerup in the Ohio Athletic Conference this season and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, extended its lead to 44-34 with 2:27 remaining. Pitt-Greensburg, which won the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference championship and had won 13 straight games, got no closer than five points the rest of the way.
Both teams struggled offensively in the first half, with B-W limiting Pitt-Greensburg to one field goal over a span of 15 minutes in building a 19-15 lead. The Bobcats responded with a late 7-0 run to take a 22-21 lead at halftime.
"We got some wide-open looks on threes, but we didn't knock them down," Baldwin-Wallace coach Cheri Harrer said.
Baldwin-Wallace shot 31 percent from the field (16 of 51) and didn't make a single 3-point shot in 12 attempts, but outrebounded the Bobcats 49-39. Pitt-Greensburg shot just 23 percent from the field (14 of 61).
"They played very aggressive defensively. In order for us to do anything offensively was a struggle. They fight through everything," said Pitt-Greensburg guard Nicole Reiser, who led the Bobcats with 13 points.
Brough also pulled down 11 rebounds to go along with her 15 points, and teammate Serena Farage also had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
"Serena did a great job getting us started with some putbacks, and Ariel picked up her game in the second half," Harrer said.
Baldwin-Wallace will play the winner of the second game between host Hope (25-1) and Washington and Jefferson (24-4) Saturday at 7 p.m. at Hope's DeVos Fieldhouse.


text:
LOEWE "Puzzle" Small Shoulder Bag
Please select a color and size before adding to your cart.
Please select a color and size before adding to your Wish List.
Please select a color and size before adding to your Gift List.
"Puzzle" Small Shoulder Bag
Free Shipping & Returns on All U.S. Orders. See Details
Crafted of black leather joined in geometric "puzzle pieces," Loewe's small shoulder bag can also be worn as a crossbody, clutch, or sling. Hand-assembled from more than 40 precisely cut pieces, this foldable style exemplifies the luxury brand's 100-plus-year history of leather innovation and expertise.Style #505206966
- Handmade.
- White signature stylized Anagram logo stamped at top.
- Zip back pocket. Black lacquered edging. Protective metal feet.
- Polished silvertone hardware.
- Lined with beige herringbone fabric. Two slip pockets at interior.
- Rolled leather handle. Detachable, adjustable flat leather strap.
- Zip closure beneath top flap.
- 6.25" to 7.50" height x 11.00" width x 5.00" depth (approximately).
- 3" handle drop, 15" to 23" strap drop (approximately).
- Available in Black.
- Made in Spain.
Together with a collective of Spanish artisans, German-born Enrique Loewe Roessberg founded the house that bears his name in the 19th century. As the official leather goods provider to the Spanish Royal Crown, the label quickly gained a following among wealthy Europeans. More than 100 years later, the brand expanded to include ready-to-wear and fragrances. Today, Creative Director Jonathan Anderson pays homage to the label's rich heritage while bringing a modern sensibility to his designs.
Need Help? Have Questions? Contact Us.
Please call 1.888.222.7639 to speak with a Customer Service Representative.
We're here to help you:
Monday - Friday, 9 AM - 9 PM (ET)
Saturday - Sunday, 10:30 AM - 7 PM (ET)
If you prefer email, we can be reached anytime at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Free Shipping & Returns on All U.S. Orders. See Details


text:
A-Line skirt (fabric designed by Nani Iro)
Added Apr 13, 2013
by liliarike
Starnberg, Germany
In sewing I am mainly driven and inspired by the beauty of fabrics. This one ("Waltz"), by Nani Iro, collection 2012 I think, is a favourite of mine, very nice colours and lovely pattern (naniiro.jp, nice online store too)
Thus, I made a simple A-linke skirt to emphasize the fabric and not more. Cosy to wear due to the very soft cotton of the fabric. Fits to a lot of tops of different colours.
Pattern: Simple Modern Sewing: 8 Basic Patterns to Create 25 Favorite Garments" by
Back and front part are very different in the pattern, thus can be worn either with the front or back side in front (does not make a big difference in fitting)
Material Notes
Very cosy double gauze cotton (2 layers stitched at some points together, not visible)
1 Comment Sign in to add a post
Apr 13, 2013, 07.51 AMby Mary Athey
lovely skirt and the fabrics gorgeous. i agree about fabric, i'll see a dress pattern and know which of my fabrics will suit the pattern . i love beautiful fabric as well x .
1 Reply
Apr 13, 2013, 10.15 AMby liliarike
Thank you so much, best regards
Add to Favorites 4 people added it


text:
Freshman midfielder Nora Barry (Marcellus, N.Y.) was named National Rookie of the Week by WomensLax.com after a standout game against No. 19 Johns Hopkins on Saturday. A three-time ALC Rookie of the Week selection, Barry is the fourth Gator this season to earn national weekly honors and the first to get the nod from WomensLax.com. Teammate Ashley Bruns (Ellicott City, Md.) is the only other Gator to earn this national honor, doing so twice in 2010. Additionally, Barry was named to the SynapseSports.com National Weekly Honor Roll. She is the third Gator this season to garner this honor.
Barry recorded three goals, a ground ball, a draw control and a caused turnover to push the Gators past No. 19 Johns Hopkins, 13-12, in double overtime on Saturday. The Marcellus, N.Y., native scored a goal in the first half, then gave the Gators their biggest lead of the afternoon, 9-5, with a free-position goal midway through the second. However, her biggest moment of the game came 66 minutes and 58 seconds in, when she was awarded the ball on free position in double overtime. The freshman kept her cool and scored her team-leading fourth game-winning goal of the season, to hand the Gators their first-ever overtime victory.
The Gator freshman has been turning heads all season, ever since scoring five goals in Florida's home opener against Jacksonville on Feb. 15. She is currently tied for fourth on the team with 30 goals on the year, sits at 65th in the nation with a team-high 32 ground balls, and is third on the Gators with 32 draw controls. She has already received recognition around the country, most recently being named to the watch list for Rookie of the Year by Inside Lacrosse.
In addition to Rookie of the Week, Virginia Tech's senior midfielder, Jessica Nonn, earned WomensLax.com Player of the Week honors after leading the unranked Virginia Tech Hokies to their first-ever victory over the 7th-ranked Virginia Cavaliers in a momentous overtime upset. In Virginia Tech's first overtime victory since 2009, Nonn contributed four goals, a ground ball and two draw controls. The senior's most important goal came with 2:11 remaining in the overtime period, putting the Hokies up, 10-9. Virginia Tech won the ensuing draw control and spread the field to run out the clock, sealing perhaps the biggest win in program history. Nonn's game winner marks the first-ever win for Virginia Tech over a top-10 opponent and the second-straight season the Hokies have defeated a ranked conference opponent – the last being a 12-11 win over the then-No. 16 Boston College.
In addition, Barry also earned her third ALC Rookie of the Week honors on Tuesday. Winning the award three times is a feat which a Gator has achieved just once before, as teammate Ashley Bruns (Ellicott City, Md.) picked up the honor three times in 2010. She is one of five Gators to be honored by the ALC this season.
The Gators return to action on Saturday, when they host No. 17 Vanderbilt in the final home game of the regular season. The game will be broadcast statewide on Fox Sports Florida with opening draw scheduled for noon.
Courtesy UF Communications


text:
Skip to main content
more options
Course Offerings
Financial Aid
Contact Us
Summer Session
Dates & Cost
Logo Info
In the News
Photo credit: Vitaliy Darovskikh
Program Announcement
As of May 31st, 2013, after a long and illustrious run, Cornell University's FALCON Program (for Chinese and Japanese) will no longer be offered. However, we will continue to offer a summer-only intensive Mandarin Chinese program, which will be listed under the new name of IMPAC (Intensive Mandarin Program At Cornell). Details about this program can be found at
. The Department of Asian Studies will also continue to provide its regular course offerings in Chinese and Japanese throughout the academic year (
). For those that wish to receive program updates, please "like" our new Facebook page at
. The FALCON Facebook page will be active for the FALCON alumni that wish to remain connected.
In the News
Marks of Distinction
Cornell was the first university to teach modern Far Eastern languages. Cornell's Full-Year Asian Language Concentration (FALCON) program provides unusually comprehensive and intensive one-year study of Chinese or Japanese.
FALCON is a registered certificate program with the New York State Department of Education. For more information visit:
Chinese FALCON
Japanese FALCON
MA Asian Studies/MBA Dual Degree Program
Of particular interest for graduate business students is the MBA/MA in Asian Studies. This program affords an opportunity for students interested in Asian business to combine the study of language and Asian area studies with the MBA. The program generally takes three- to three-and-a-half years to complete, with a three-semester (rather than four-semester) residency requirement. Successful completion of a one-year FALCON intensive language program may count as one of the two semesters of residency in the Graduate School required for the M.A. in Asian Studies. Fifteen "elective" Asian Studies credits can be applied against the sixty-credit total required by the Johnson School. Students should apply to both the Johnson Graduate School of Management and the Cornell Graduate School; if denied admission to one of these programs, students may enroll in the other.
Cornell students have deep desire to use education to change lives of 600 children in rural China
Cornell Chronicle
13 June 2006
FALCON Program Files High
The Cornell Daily Sun
1 October 2003
Language classes are hot summer items
Cornell Chronicle
25 July 1996
Remembering Eleanor Jorden
It is with great sadness that I inform you of the passing of Eleanor Jorden, Wednesday, February 18, 2009. She was living in the home of her daughter, Telly, and her son-in-law. Her son Temple lived in the vicinity and had been able to see her often. Temple reports that she passed away peacefully in her sleep.
We will always remember her as a great colleague, as a brilliant, charismatic, inspiring teacher and, above all, as a warm, witty and caring human being and friend. She first came to Cornell in 1969 as a Visiting Scholar after retiring from the Foreign Service Institute Language School, where she had held the position of Dean of the School of Asian Languages. In 1971 she was granted tenure at Cornell and the following year founded the FALCON Program. She had already become the primary force in the teaching of Japanese, having published the two-volume text, Beginning Japanese. For many, many decades, year after year Beginning Japanese topped the best-seller list of Yale University Press and it remains in print today. During her time at Cornell, she published Reading Japanese, a revolutionary and highly-acclaimed textbook, still in print. Toward the end of her 18 years at Cornell, she began her mammoth work, Japanese: the Spoken Language, which came out in three volumes. After leaving Cornell in 1988, she assumed a position with the National Foreign Language Center in Washington, DC, where she published, with Richard Lambert, the comprehensive and important study, "Japanese Language Instruction in the United States: Resources, Practice, and Investment Strategy."
Only a small sampling of the awards she has received in her lengthy and productive career include: The Order of the Precious Crown, granted by His Majesty, the Emperor of Japan in 1985; The Japan Foundation Award in 1985; The Papalia Award for Excellence in Teacher Education, from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in 1993. She also received four honorary doctorates and served as President of the Association for Asian Studies once and President of the Association of Teachers of Japanese twice.
-Robert J Sukle
Copyright 2015 Language Resource Center


text:
Scottish parliament rejects inquiry into freemasonry
View Single Post
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 582
Scottish parliament rejects inquiry into freemasonry
2006 02 14
From: irna.ir
The Scottish Parliament Wednesday rejected a petition calling for an inquiry into how many Freemasons there are in the police and the judiciary.
Sidney Gallagher brought forward the petition to the Public Petitions Committee was reported to have been thrown out of the Edinburgh-based parliament after shouting at its MPs.
Convener Michael McMahon said there had been a number of petitions on the topic in the past and had referred them on to the Justice Committee, which then carried out a full inquiry.
"I don't think this petition adds anything to that inquiry. I don't think there's any value in taking it forward," McMahon was quoted waying by PA News.
The committee simply agreed to note the latest petition, Gallagher, described as a 66-year old joiner from Glasgow, shouted that he wanted justice before being led out by security staff.
Police were said to have later questioned the petitioner, who later revealed he had been sentenced to six years in prison for attempted murder, claiming that two officers, who gave evidence against him, were Freemasons.
An inquiry by the Home Affairs Committee of the British Parliament in 1998 concluded that there were a "large number of freemasons within the criminal Justice system," but said that the numbers in themselves give "no general cause for concern."
It reported that it is "not possible on the evidence we received to say that there has never been any abuse of masonic contacts" despite the many allegations.
"There is a widespread public perception that freemasonry can have an unhealthy influence on the criminal justice system," the committee said.
It said that it "certainly believe that one of the main reasons for freemasonry's poor public image is a perception that it is a secret society" while recommending that members themselves of the secret brotherhood address such a perception.
A government survey at the time found that there were at least at least 247 judges in the UK who admitted they were masons and over 1,000 magistrates.
Article from: http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0602085929192204.htm
View Public Profile
Send a private message to Insider
Find all posts by Insider


text:
Darcey ring
Darcey ring in brass & Swarovski pearl
€ 264
Available soon
Select size
Select colour
This gorgeous ring is a fresh take on the Maison's Darcey line, capturing the spirited charm of the Chloé girl in its elegant, yet fresh and modern design. A bold feminine statement, the Darcey ring brings a touch of contemporary classicism to casual daytime looks.
100% brass, 100% Swarovski pearls - 1 crystal cream Swarovski pearl - Classic gold brass - Chloé logo engraved inside Comes with a box Avoid any impact or fall Avoid contact with water or any source of humidity Store it carefully in the original pouch when not in use, after having wiped it with a soft duster cloth Colour: pearl Item code: 2R0575-CH5-002
Shipping & Returns
We offer a speedy Express shipping service for any address. We also provide an easy return service: just ship your items back to us with a shipping service of your choice within 30 days from delivery. Read more on Returns & Refunds.


text:
Thursday, April 23, 2009
What They Want to Know: Our Top Ten List for Warren Buffett
Well, the questions are in, and we have winners.
74 questions were submitted to our "Top Ten Questions We'd Like to See Warren Buffet Asked" contest, and more than 300 readers voted for their favorite.
Now, we're unfortunately a little primitive technologically-speaking here at NMTU, and readers could select only one question—not ten, as we originally envisioned—for the list.
As it turned out, however, this had a distinct benefit: it reduced ballot-stuffing, and the leaders really stood out from the rest.
For example, almost half the questions received one or no votes. Three-quarters of the questions got five votes or less. And 85% received fewer votes than any of the Top Ten questions.
So our Top Ten results were unambiguous, and by and large they fulfill Buffett's own goal of getting questions about the business, not the kind of "What Would Warren Do" stuff that dominated last year's meeting. (When the high school senior from Germany asked Buffett "what I should do for the rest of my life" it got a little frightening—at that age I wasn't thinking much beyond what I was going to do the rest of the afternoon.)
Let's consider them one by one.
Question 1, the top vote-getter—whether Buffett has a back-up in mind for Berkshire's insurance ace Ajit Jain, who operates out of a small office in Stamford, Connecticut yet is responsible for more of Berkshire profits than any individual besides Buffett himself—might seem obscure to those who don't know much about Berkshire beyond Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, but it's a great question, and has never been asked, as far as I know.
While everyone wants to know what Berkshire will do to replace Buffett if he gets 'hit by a truck,' nobody seems to wonder what Buffett would do to replace Jain if the truck should appear in Stamford, Connecticut, rather than Omaha, Nebraska.
And it's a material issue for Berkshire shareholders.
Questions 2 and 9 are Moody's-related, but each takes a different angle on the subject. The first asks why Buffett doesn't buy Moody's and restore the franchise; the second asks why Buffett didn't use his considerable prestige and clout to rein in Moody's during the subprime ratings mania.
I like 'em both.
Question 3—how Buffett justifies holding stocks "forever" when the fundamentals have permanently changed—was asked a couple different ways, and this is the version that won the most votes.
It's a great question, particularly following a year in which many individual investors, lulled to sleep by the Great Bull Market, saw their pensions vanish thanks to the collapse of former "hold forever" investments such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG and Citibank.
While Buffett had the wisdom to unload his Fannie Mae years ago (he correctly saw the earnings manipulation for what it was: earnings manipulation with potentially catastrophic consequences), many others weren't so fortunate.
Even The-Prince-Who-Rescued-Citibank in 1990, poor old Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, "The Arabian Warren Buffett," got hosed on his "forever" investment when Citibank did what it does best: overleverage its balance sheet and underprice its risks.
I'd bet the Prince—and the Berkshire shareholders heading to Omaha—would appreciate hearing what, exactly, Buffett would say about this topic.
Question 4 is only one of a handful of questions we received that related to Buffett's high public profile, and it's a good one. The other questions on this general topic were, however, more pointed, less objective, and seemed eager to take Buffett to task both for his support for Obama (he is a lifelong Democrat: people who are surprised by this haven't read "Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett's Omaha"!) and his "Buy American, I Am" op-ed in the New York Times early in the financial collapse.
But our readers are a discerning bunch and showed no inclination to get into the political side of things in these questions. I'm grateful but not surprised that they picked the best question of the bunch.
Question 5 is also one of which we received several on the same topic—the topic being Buffett's large derivatives bet. Essentially, he wrote insurance against the stock market going down in a big way, not long before the stock market went down in a very big way.
Now, Berkshire has written catastrophic insurance against earthquakes, hurricanes and billion-dollar consumer contests for decades, and has made money doing so. And it is likely Berkshire will make money on the index puts in the long run.
Buffett himself wrote about the derivatives at length in the current shareholder letter, framing them as a low-cost source of capital, which they very likely will have proved to be when they mature decades hence.
Nevertheless, there is a larger issue at play here. It is whether Buffett handcuffed himself by doubling-up on the market near its peak, forcing him to sell stocks into the market decline in order to make investments in GE, Goldman Sachs and Wrigley—and this question frames the issue in a way worth a response.
Question 6 is just plain terrific, and anybody who has followed Buffett's investment career would be interested in hearing his response, for Buffett has, in recent years, invested heavily in regulated energy businesses requiring what for Buffett is anathema: heavy capital expenditures.
Indeed, for the first time in three decades of writing shareholder letters, Buffett boasted about spending more money in these businesses than they earn where he used to brag about how much money Berkshire took out of its businesses.
It would not be an exaggeratation to call that a jaw-dropping moment in the annals of Berkshiredom.
Question 7 echoes Question 3, with a more academic and forward-looking flavor.
Question 8, regarding Buffett's thought process in ramping up his Conoco-Phillips investment at the peak of the oil mania, is one of my favorites, and I hope it gets asked—not because it rehashes what Buffett has already admitted in his letter was a horrible investment (a "sin of commission"), but because it gets at the most uncharacteristic aspect of the investment, which is an apparent lapse in the key ingredient in Buffett's success: his rationality.
Now, as Buffett himself wrote in his latest letter to shareholders, he wants more questions about the business than he's been getting in recent years, and I think we'll be giving Mr. Sorkin at the New York Times plenty of good ones, all worthy of the Oracle's time.
These are 9 rational and dispassionate questions, and aside from #4 they bear entirely on either the Berkshire businesses or Buffett's investment methodology.
Question 10, however, is different. It's about the AIG affair—something shareholders have been too timid to bring up in the past.
And who could blame them: would you want to stand up in an arena teeming with 17,000 Warren Buffett fans (and another 10,000 watching from satellite locations), and ask a hostile "What-did-you-know-and-when-did-you-know-it?" question about the biggest black eye in Berkshire's 44-year history under Buffett?
While the AIG affair is, nevertheless, a business issue, and worth asking about, Question 10 is phrased in a personal, accusatory fashion that I didn't endorse. When the sender refused to restate it in a manner more likely to generate a response, it stayed as it was.
And since no other questions about AIG were submitted, and since our readers want to know what Buffett would say about the matter, well, the question is as it was submitted.
I apologize for the tone and the implication, but not for having an AIG question on our list. After all, a CEO who didn't blink an eye when he was asked in front of 30,000 people last year if he "believed in God and had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ" could handle this one, too. (If you want to know how Buffett responded to that one, you'll have to read "Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett's Omaha"!)
All in all, I think the contest did what it was intended to do: provide excellent questions worth asking at the upcoming Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting. I thank the readers of NMTU for their interest, their thoughtful responses and their votes.
Those of you who see your question below, please confirm your mailing address and whether you would like to be identified should the question be asked at the meeting at firstname.lastname@example.com.
All Top Ten winners will receive a copy of "Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett's Omaha," signed by the author.
We'll be sending these pronto to Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times. Should Mr. Sorkin decide that one or more fits the bill, I look forward to being in the Qwest Center two Saturdays from now and hearing the questions asked...
...and answered!
The Top Ten Questions We'd Like to Hear at the Berkshire Annual Meeting
#1 To what extent does Berkshire's reinsurance business rely on Ajit Jain and is there currently another individual in the division capable of replacing Mr. Jain?
#2 Why not either sell the Moody's position entirely since the franchise value and moat are severely and possibly permanently impaired (redeploying capital into more attractive investments that no doubt exist); or buy Moody's entirely and use the Buffett/Berkshire reputation to entirely revamp Moody's into a highly valuable business again? Berkshire may be one of the only franchises that could install the integrity needed to turn around the ratings agencies.
#3 Washington Post went from being a local paper to a national paper to a learning company. Wells Fargo went from being a conservative bank to a highly leveraged mortgage lender. Moody's went from being a boring ratings agency to a co-conspirator in the mortgage bubble. How do you justify holding stocks "forever" when the original investment eventually becomes unrecognizable in most cases?
#4 You said in your letter the United States' best days lie ahead of it. Upon what do you base that statement: economic data, natural optimism, political pressure, or wishful thinking?
#5 Isn't there significantly more risk than what you are suggesting in your sale of long-dated index puts? If one had sold puts on the Dow from 1927 to 1929 (during the run up, a period similar to when Berkshire sold their options), 15 years later, the market was down from an average of say 300 on the DJIA to approximately 140 a loss of a little over 50%. And if one had reinvested the premium in the market, one would have lost 50% of that. So the cheap financing ( less than 1%) does not end up being cheap. Finally, isn't there a risk of doubling down on the stock market as most of Berkshire's business returns are tied to returns in the stock market?
#6 You've written See's Candies' beauty rests in the minimal incremental tangible capital required to grow profits. Recently, you've expressed excitement for Berkshire's investments in utilities, insurance and railroads – capital intensive industries potentially facing massive inflation. Can you reconcile these contrasting viewpoints?
#7 What factors, if any, would cause you to change your favorite holding period from "forever" to "sometime in the future" when thinking about the challenges your businesses face?
#8 On Conoco, it seems Berkshire made the uncharacteristic move of buying an asset with a price chart that went straight up, rather straight down. Please explain the decision making process on Conoco and what you learned from this admitted mistake.
#9 Being a major shareholder in Moody's, why didn't Mr. Buffett play a more active role in urging Moody's to change its rating process and save it from disrepute?
#10 How do you sleep at night knowing you sacrificed Ron Furgeson [sic; it is spelled Ferguson] to avoid your own responsibility with the General Re/AIG crime?
Jeff Matthews
I Am Not Making This Up
© 2009 NotMakingThisUp, LLC
The content contained in this blog represents the opinions of Mr. Matthews.
Mr. Matthews also acts as an advisor and clients advised by Mr. Matthews may hold either long or short positions in securities of various companies discussed in the blog based upon Mr. Matthews' recommendations. This commentary in no way constitutes investment advice. It should never be relied on in making an investment decision, ever. Nor are these comments meant to be a solicitation of business in any way: such inquiries will not be responded to. This content is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author.
4 comments:
- Randy said...
Aren't the answers pretty obvious?
#1 Assuming the billions Warren has invested in cloning research fails, the philosophy will remain and guide successful operation of the business.
#2 LOL at Buffett leading a turnaround at Moody's. I think he'd rather eat a salad for lunch every day.
#3 I think Buffett has always conditioned his forever statement by the idea that the same business moat exists. Obviously he's sold stocks before. And LOL at the mischaracterization of Wells Fargo.
#4 Isn't wishful thinking the fount of all statements?
#5 Your first mistake is comparing selling long dated puts on the market when it was trading at a 30 PE (34 in 1929) to selling them at a 17 PE. Secondly, dividend payouts were close to 100% of profits in the 1930s, this provided great shareholder returns (anyone buying at a reasonable PE, say at the end of 1931 made nice returns throughout the depression), but prevented index values from growing. A casual reading of the annual report indicates that Buffett has language protecting from high dividend payouts. Either way, if Berkshire had sold puts at the same market PE (in 1931), we would have ended up paying nothing, even without adjusting for dividends.
#6 You've heard that Buffett now runs one of the largest portfolios in the world, and that high return little candy companies no longer move the needle, haven't you?
#7 The same factors that lead him to regularly sell stocks.
#8 Obviously the mistake was not reading any Julian Simon.
#9 And why didn't he get it renamed Happy's? Moody's just doesn't strike the right tone, does it? I think they could have flown under everyones radar if only WEB had been more active in renaming the company.
#10 The truth is Ron Ferguson was controlled by WEB. Buffett used advanced ESP techniques to secretly to force Ron, against his will, to help AIG commit fraud so Berkshire could make another nickel per share. LOL.
- Masked Financier said...
A great post Jeff.
And as I'm developing my Texas Holdem Investing method which goes completely against ever holding an investment "to infinity and beyond" I can't wait for the answers to 3 and 7.
You can read my thoughts at my blog.
- An Intelligent Investor Wannabe said...
I am not experienced enough to give answer them in detail, but here is how I would imagine Buffett answers the questions based on my little understanding of Berkshire and Buffett..
1. I don't think Buffett will give any more answer to that question unless he knows he isn't leading Berkshire any further. He would probably give the same answer again, "I have four guys that I like. In due time, I will release the information." Either way, I feel that Berkshire cannot grow as it used to. Like you commented a few months at our event, because of the board's loyalty to Buffett, the company won't be changed for a while, which is a recipe for slow growth as the company can't deal with new challenges.
2. I don't think Buffett is interested in fixing companies, especially after Solomon. He is never a private equity guy. I also imagine there would be some antitrust hassles he has to go through with JOD. Why take a chance on a company that needs fixing when you can buy a company at that is dirt cheap.
3. I don't know if Buffett wants to admit this, but this model doesn't work. Simply because there isn't a company that is able to be owned forever. Coca Cola is a great company, but it has been a disappointment since Goizueta's untimely death in 1998. This is what the stock market is for. It provides liquidity when the company has reached its intrinsic value.
4. The American higher education system is still the best in the world, and there are still international students who are interested in making a living in America, should the laws permit. Overall the US is still attracting immigrants who are the driving force of the US. The US workforce on average is still more educated than countries that have the potential to beat us (China and India)… etc etc
5. I am not knowledgeable about Berkshire's bet to comment
6. Buffett was betting on the fact that oil price would keep increasing. Energy business is also relatively easy to value. It is tangible. Since the product is not differentiable, the companies have to focus on being efficient, which different metrics can quantify. The most important indicator investors should look for is price of oil. I would be interested to find out what he would say to say about that.
7. Already answered.
8. Maybe Buffett wanted to park his cash somewhere and felt that he was uncomfortable with the momentum of oil price? Buffett did make a mistake buying an airline, another capital intensive industry.
9. Already Answered.
10. No comment.
- easystar said...
#3. "I don't know if Buffett wants to admit this, but this model doesn't work. Simply because there isn't a company that is able to be owned forever. Coca Cola is a great company, but it has been a disappointment since Goizueta's untimely death in 1998. This is what the stock market is for."
KO was so massively overvalued at 1998/9 (PE 80) and WEB knew that. But out of his loyalty (and of course that cost both the US IRS money (unrealsied profit), and us, as the shareholder. But I would see that as one of his hobby/pass time and let him have that.
But if you look at the intrisic/earning, KO has continue to improves that. At PE20, it is a a lovely company to own.
#6 - If you read his shareholder letter carefully, he said he expected future oil to trade at $60ish range. That was where the valuation was based. Anything more would be an bonus and obviously no one can predict the short term movement of oil prices. With these QE going on, we loyal Berkshire shareholders might just have to thank you for his foresight few years from now.


text:
Mary Ann Simchick
Mary Ann Simchick, 76, of 321 Woodland Ave., Johnsonburg, died Tuesday evening, Jan. 11, 2011, at Bradford Regional Medical Center in Bradford following a short illness.She was born Dec. 13, 1934 in Johnsonburg, daughter of the late Frank and Rose Budzinski Kissel. On June 16, 1956 in Holy Rosary Church, Johnsonburg, she married Joseph L. Simchick, who preceded her in death on May 4, 2006. She resided in Johnsonburg all her life and graduated from Johnsonburg High School in 1954. Mrs. Simchick was employed by Andrew Kaul Memorial Hospital as a darkroom tech for 35 years, retiring in 1997. She had also worked at Stackpole Carbon Co. She was a member of Holy Rosary Church. She is survived by three sons, Daniel J. Simchick and his wife Lisa of St. Marys, Kenneth Simchick and his wife Cynthia of St. Marys, and Alan Simchick and his wife Margaret of Johnsonburg; a daughter, Leslie, Mrs. Charles Goble of Bradford; 10 grandchildren, Alexandra and Olivia Goble, Whitney Krupa, Danielle, Jessica, Steven and Gregory Simchick, Tia Kephart, Alaina Simchick and Damen Ordway; a great-grandchild, Mitchell Kephart; and a sister, Patricia Wilhelm of Johnsonburg. Besides her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by a daughter, Susan R. Simchick. A Mass of Christian Burial for Mary Ann Simchick will be conducted at Holy Rosary Church in Johnsonburg on Saturday at 10 a.m. Officiating will be the Rev. David J. Wilson, pastor. Interment will be in Holy Rosary Cemetery.Friends will be received at the Anthony F. Ferragine Funeral Home, 401 Chestnut St., Johnsonburg, on Friday from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m.


text:
Glenmont Studio (518) 898-9340
Latham Studio (518) 608-1229
On Sunday, March 4, Esak Garcia, a National Hatha Yoga Asana Champion, is coming to Radiance Hot Yoga in Glenmont! Attending this workshop and class with Esak will be a highlight for all yogis, whether just beginning their journey or a seasoned practitioner.Join us for this unique upstate NY experience, happening at Radiance Hot Yoga, Glenmont, NY.
Radiance Hot Yoga, Glenmont is located at the Glenmont Plaza on the corner of Feura Bush Rd and Rt-9W, 15 minutes from downtown Albany and 4.5 miles from Albany Medical College, Albany Law School, Albany College of Pharmacy and Sage College. The Glenmont studio is a short driving distance from Troy, East Greenbush, Loudonville, Latham, Kinderhook and Chatham.
1993 air jordans reflective tongue GLiKBF
Radiance Hot Yoga, Latham is located at The Shoppes at Newton Plaza on Loudon Road in Latham. The studio is in close proximity to Siena College, 12 minutes from downtown Albany and just a few minutes from Colonie Center and Crossgates. The Latham studio is a short drive from Troy, East Greenbush, Colonie, Niskayuna and Clifton Park.
nike air jordan 7 olympic
Our yoga classes are practiced in a heated room equipped with a constant flow of fresh, filtered air. Practicing in the heated room improves flexibility, strength and range of motion and brings vital balance while restoring all systems to optimal health. Consistent practice creates a physical, mental and spiritual harmony that is felt in all areas of the practitioner's life.
Our aim is to hold firm to the true purpose and nature of yoga, emphasizing strength and healing of the mind, body and soul. The yoga practiced in our studios reflects this approach, including the Barkan Method which has its roots in a Calcutta lineage, but it also integrates postures from other styles of yoga, allowing for increased range of motion. In our studios you will find classes that offer a high level of intensity and focus. Disciplined, dedicated practice, self study and spiritual openness are the acts of yoga.
Are you a Teacher, student or in the Military? Discounts available. Valid ID is required. Conditions apply.month
"The BEST yoga place around! Excellent instructors. Clean, beautiful, big space. The heat and humidity in the room are perfect. I've never been in better shape. The classes are fun, challenging, and I'm totally addicted."
Worldwide astronomical and astrophysical research
Patrick Crumley 1 , Chiara Ceccobello 1 , Riley M. T. Connors 1 and Yuri Cavecchi 1 ,2 ,3
1 Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94249, 1090 GE, Amsterdam, The Netherlands e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com 2 Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Peyton Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA 3 Mathematical Sciences and STAG Research Centre, University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK
Received: 11 December 2016 Accepted: 2 March 2017
In this work we discuss the recent criticism by Zdziarski (
, AA, 586, A18) of the
maximal jet
model derived in Falcke Biermann (
nike air max leopard gold blackwhite wedding
, AA, 293, 665). We agree with Zdziarski that in general a jet's internal energy is not bounded by its rest-mass energy density. We describe the effects of the mistake on conclusions that have been made using the maximal jet model and show when a maximal jet is an appropriate assumption. The maximal jet model was used to derive a 1D hydrodynamical model of jets in agnjet , a model that does multiwavelength fitting of quiescent/hard state X-ray binaries and low-luminosity active galactic nuclei. We correct algebraic mistakes made in the derivation of the 1D Euler equation and relax the maximal jet assumption. We show that the corrections cause minor differences as long as the jet has a small opening angle and a small terminal Lorentz factor. We find that the major conclusion from the maximal jet model, the jet-disk symbiosis, can be generally applied to astrophysical jets. We also show that isothermal jets are required to match the flat radio spectra seen in low-luminosity X-ray binaries and active galactic nuclei, in agreement with other works.
Key words: black hole physics / galaxies: jets / hydrodynamics / stars: black holes / galaxies: active
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Kofi Annan made the final speech to the 'Trust and Integrity in the Global Economy' conference on 19 July 2014. Watch here! >>Kofi Annan
nike roshes black and gold
1) Initiatives of Change have been pursuing an urgent conversation on the new leadership for longer than most companies have realised that they needed it. If you want to understand where leadership in the business world is going, you could ask for no better global guide – Margaret Heffernan; renowned business author, blogger and entrepreneur.Margaret Heffernan;
2) Every time I work with Initiatives of Change I come away strengthened in my belief that business can and must be a force for good - Mark Goyder , Founder Director Tomorrow's Company and author.Mark Goyder
IofC-UK's business programme strengthens the motivations of care and moral commitment in economic life and thinking. The 'Trust Integrity in the Global Economy' (TIGE) programme was established following the global banking and economic crises of 2007-2008.'Trust Integrity in the Global Economy'
TIGE is a community and a global campaign, involving individuals and organisations practicing trust and integrity in public, corporate and private life. For 10 years TIGE held annual five-day conferences in Caux, Switerland, 2006-2016. We continue to organize forums and events which enable economic stakeholders to explore a journey of personal, organizational and societal transformation towards human and planetary wellbeing. We connect and support new economic and business models and build relationships which enable such transformation.
Heart of TIGE statement
At the personal level this means:
At the organisational level this means:
TIGE UK has published an integrity-training
nike roshe run camo hero blue/atomic red cross VdGIWA
on Trust and Integrity in the Global Economy. It focusses on Five Pillars of Trust and Seven Cs of Trust and includes case study stories. The TIGE UK team are available to deliver workshops in business schools and organizations, based on this study guide. Previous workshop have been delivered to students at York St John University, Manchester Metropolitian University and to 500 MBA students in Pune, India. For further enquiries please nike free runs flyknit cheap hotels 4LHBM


text:
Internet Explorer
Prices and offers may vary in store
Available for download
Not available in stores
In the world of The Ether Chronicles, the Mechanical War rages on, and appearances are almost always deceiving . . .
The prim professor
Daphne Carlisle may be a scholar, but she's far more comfort-able out in the field than lost in a stack of books. Still, when her parents are kidnapped by a notorious warlord, she knows she'll need more than quick thinking if she is to reach them in time. Daphne's only hope for getting across enemy territory is an airship powered and navigated by Mikhail Denisov, a rogue Man O' War who is as seductive as he is untrustworthy.
The jaded mercenary
Mikhail will do anything for the right price, and he's certain he has this mission—and Daphne—figured out: a simple job and a beautiful but sheltered Englishwoman. But as they traverse the skies above the Mediterranean and Arabia, Mikhail learns the fight ahead is anything but simple, and his lovely passenger is not entirely what she seems. The only thing Mikhail is certain of is their shared desire—both unexpected and dangerous.
The following ISBNs are associated with this title:
(not you?)
Preview Your Review
Your Review Has Been Submitted


text:
After years of delays ground was officially broken Friday on Ballpark Village in St. Louis...
ST. LOUIS (AP) — After years of delays, ground was officially broken Friday on Ballpark Village in St. Louis, with plans to have attractions such as a Cardinals Hall of Fame and restaurant, a massive Anheuser-Busch-themed bar and a live entertainment plaza in place by Opening Day 2014.
The project will be developed on the site of the old Busch Stadium, adjacent to the new one that opened in 2006.
"We saw an opportunity to enhance the game day experience for our fans with a project unlike any other in baseball," said Bill DeWitt Jr., chairman and chief executive officer for the Cardinals.
Ballpark Village was first envisioned 12 years ago, six years before the new stadium was built, with the Cardinals promising it as part of a deal for more than $200 million in state and local subsidies to help construct the new stadium. Lavish plans initially projected shopping, entertainment, 400,000 square feet of office space, a 21-story condominium tower, even an aquarium.
But one snag after another ensued. Would-be tenants backed out; the project was redesigned several times; financing became difficult when the economy soured in 2008. In the meantime, the rock-and-weed-covered lot became something of an embarrassment. The Cardinals eventually put a small softball field on the spot to at least stop water from pooling.
Blake Cordish of the Cordish Cos., the developer working with the Cardinals, lauded the team for its persistence. He said the project will offer a great experience not only for fans on game days, but for residents and tourists year-round.
"It's a unique site in the heart of a great city in partnership with a world-class organization," Cordish said.
The Ballpark Village project received $17 million in state and federal incentives.
The project will include a large building north of the stadium that will house a venue called "Cardinals Nation" on 30,000 square feet over three levels. Cardinals Nation will have three parts: A two-story restaurant, a Cardinals Hall of Fame and Museum, and a roof deck featuring more than 300 seats that peer directly into the stadium. The roof deck will also have three patios and two bars.
A second building will house a two-story, 20,000-square-foot "Budweiser Brew House," showcasing Anheuser-Busch's history in St. Louis. It will include a deck overlooking the stadium and an outdoor beer garden.
Phase 1 will also include an entertainment area known as "Ballpark Village Live!"— complete with a 40-foot LED screen above a stage. The team expects it to be a popular gathering place on game days, but Cordish said it will also host more than 100 events throughout the year, such as festivals, concerts and art fairs.
Mayor Francis Slay said he expects Ballpark Village to attract countless visitors to a downtown area that's also expecting to benefit from a multimillion-dollar planned upgrade of the Gateway Arch grounds and the area around the Arch.
"It's been a long time coming," Slay said of Ballpark Village. "It has been a very much anticipated event."
Offices, shopping and housing are expected to be part of future development that could reach $700 million and cover seven blocks, the Cardinals said.
"I have no doubt that Ballpark Village will be the envy of all of baseball and something we'll take pride in for generations," DeWitt said.


text:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved nuclear physicist Ernest Moniz's nomination to lead the Energy Department.
With a vote 97 to 0 in favor, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor will take the helm of the department poised to issue a series of decisions on the future of U.S. natural gas exports and to guide the country's energy investments.
RecommendedWow: Broward Teachers' Union Mocks Young Man Who Lost Sister in Parkland Shooting
Cortney O'Brien
(Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)


text:
Bafang spare parts
Bafang BBS01/BBS02/BBSHD kit stator-will be available on 23th$59.99
Out of stock
Bafang bbs kits; 8fun mid drive kits and spare parts; Elektrofahrrad Mittelmotor Bafang BBS;
Battery shipment for Australia is available now and it is custom duties free channel. Battery shipment for Europe please chooses "Europe via United Kingdom" which is custom duties free channel; it would take about 8-13 days for this channel, please be noted. If you fail to place order on our website, please clean cookies of your browser to try. If your failed to register on our website, please open your browser cookies and try. We currently developed Bafang M33 spanner, and we will provide it for free if you order the bbs kits. For motor orders, EU customers can choose "Europe via United Kingdom" to avoid custom duties. If your question email does not get replied in time, please resend emails to us because sometimes mails would be sent to junk mailbox automatically.
Welcome to GreenBikeKit !
Out of stock


text: Admissions / Reasons to Attend BLS print Reasons to Attend BLS Faculty: Teachers • Scholars • Mentors Curriculum: Breadth and Depth Career Center: Invested in Your Future Clinics: Where the Law Comes Alive Students: Success Fosters Success Location & Housing: The Heart of Brooklyn • The Soul of New York City Alumni: Inspiration • Leadership • Legacy Enrichment: Challenge • Discovery • Growth Philosophy: for the Greater Good Centers of Excellence: Committed to Intellectual Inquiry 2. Curriculum: A wide-reaching curriculum with options for individual focus Our curriculum allows you to explore any aspect of the law that interests you. This breadth is matched by an analytic rigor of in-depth study in many areas of concentration, so you can master your specific focus. Traditional course electives are augmented with interdisciplinary instruction in emerging fields in the study of law that deal with issues such as climate change and the application of new technologies to legal concepts. Our acclaimed clinics provide hands-on experience with real cases and our international program offers compelling options for you to study abroad. Learn More: Curriculum Clinics Legal Writing International Opportunities Did you know? Our curriculum is grouped into seventeen areas of concentration, with almost 250 courses, nearly 30 clinics, and a legal writing program ranked fifteenth in the nation in 2010.